Firefighters ramp up fight against opiate abuse

One in a series of occasional articles about opiate abuse and its consequences.

Firefighters in Weymouth are working to create a network of free addiction-support services for families to serve as a model for other communities across Massachusetts.

During the past three months, firefighters in the town have saved 17 lives by successfully using a naloxone nasal spray, more commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan, to revive people suffering life-threatening effects from an opiate overdose.

Now the firefighters want to do more for the community of fewer than 54,000 residents that has been hit hard by opiate addiction, whether to prescription painkillers or heroin, and its neighbors.